'Perpetrators on no-fly list, cognisable offence': Centre mulls 'legislative measures' to tackle hoax bomb threats

Amid the recent incidents, the Minister also said that they have increased security in airports, which included a 10% rise in security checks and installing more CCTVs.

New Delhi: With around 100 flights receiving bomb threats in the past one week, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Monday said the government is planning a series of legislative to tackle it, including measures to put the perpetrators of such threats in the no-fly list and make the offence cognizable.

Emphasising that the safety and security of fliers are paramount, Naidu said they cannot treat the recent threats non-seriously though all of them have turned out to be hoaxes. He said the authorities are following protocols set by international aviation bodies and the government is trying to minimise inconvenience caused to passengers.

Addressing a press conference here, Naidu said the Ministry of Civil Aviation has held a series of meetings and at its level, it has proposed "some legislative measures" to tackle threat messages and hoax messages and have come to the conclusion that there are two areas to explore.

"One is to amend the Aircraft Security Rules, which deals with the security aspect of incidents within an aircraft. One of the ideas that we want to propagate by changing these rules is that once we catch hold of the perpetrator who is behind this, we want to put them in the no-flying list," he said.

The second one, Naidu said, is to amend the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982, which deals with the offences at airports, violence on board and destruction of aircraft navigation systems. 

"While the existing law takes care of inflight offences, if we want to address this (threat messages) kind of fake or hoax messages, then the Act has to cover offences on on-ground. Our legal team has worked thoroughly. This offence has to be made cognizable," he said. If an offence is identified in the statutes as cognizable, then a suspect can be arrested without a warrant.

Noting that there will be no compromise on safety and security of passengers as well as aviation infrastructure, Naidu said the Ministry has initiated consultations with stakeholders and is pushing for changes.

Amid the recent incidents, the Minister also said that they have increased security in airports, which included a 10 per cent rise in security checks and installing more CCTVs.

He said the Ministry is in touch with all stakeholders. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is continuously in communication with the Ministry of Home Affairs on the situation of bomb threats to flights, he added.